edited by K Ono (Osaka University Medical School, Japan) , J Dvorák (Schulthess Klinik, Switzerland) , & E Dunn (University of Massachusetts Medical Center, USA)

With rapid advances in medical technology and progress in medicine during the last 27 years, severe disability or sustained neck–shoulder–arm pain secondary to cervical spondylosis can be detected much earlier. Excellent or good results of surgery can be achieved compared to the past, due mainly to advances in diagnostic imaging and surgical procedure.

Through research into cervical spondylotic myelopathy, particularly the conditions combined with a narrow spinal canal, orthopaedic surgeons in Japan have revealed the key mechanism involved in myelopathy and the specific manifestation leading to early recognition of the affliction, the “myelopathy hand”, and have invented a canal-expansive laminoplasty. Extensive decompression of the impinged spinal cord with remarkable ill effects such as instability or adhesion was accomplished for the first time. Further study has been ongoing to clarify the pathomechanism of “spondylosis” through biomechanical and animal model studies.

This volume consists of contributions by experts worldwide on the recent advances in the study of cervical spondylosis and will serve as a valuable reference for all researchers, surgeons and postgraduate students.

• Age-Related Changes of the Cervical Spine and Epidemiology of Neck Pain (J Dvorák & J A Antinnes)
• Clinical Anatomy of the Cervical Spine (K Hayashi)
• Biomechanics of Spondylosis (S Ebara et al.)
• An Animal Model of Cervical Spondylosis (S Miyamoto et al.)
• Pathology and Pathophysiology (K Hiroshima et al.)
• Symptomatology (B Wälchli & J Dvorák)
• Radiographic Evaluation of the Cervical Spine (C G Ullrich)
• Electrophysiological Diagnosis for Radiculopathy and Myelopathy: Differential Diagnosis (S Yorifuji et al.)
• Diagnosis and Differential Diagnosis (J Dvorák & K Ono)
• Non-Surgical Treatment (J Dvorák et al.)
• Surgical Treatment (E J Dunn et al.)
• Prognosis and Risk Factors in Cervical Spondylosis (K Fujiwara)
• Premature Spondylosis in the Cervical Spine in Athetoid Cerebral Palsy (T Harada & S Ebara)
• Cervical Spondylosis and Trauma (K Fujiwara et al.)
• Ossification of the Posterior Longitudinal Ligament (OPLL): Epidemiology, Pathology, Etiology, Diagnosis and Treatment (T Sakou et al.)